The Vega-built B-17G Flying Fortress, AAF serial number 42-39974, was ordered
against Contract AC-20290 and was delivered to the Army Air Force on
October 22, 1943 by the manufacturer in California. The next day, the
airplane was flown to the Long Brach Modification Center for
post-production equipment additions and changes.

The airplane left for Walla Walla, Washington on November 9, 1943, probably
for crew training, and was assigned to Overseas Destination Code "SOXO"
(Eighth Air Force, England) on January 11, 1944, where it was assigned to
the 452nd Bomb Group, 731st Bomb Squadron. The airplane was coded
"7D-P".

On April 9, 1944, the B-17 was condemned by order of the Air Forces
Materiel Service Command, but no reason was stated. This is, of
course, the day that the airplane was forced down in Denmark and was
captured by the Germans.

The above information was partially taken from the Aircraft History Card on
file at the National Air and Space Museum. A scan of this document is
below.

From the airfield in Vaerlose, the airplane was flown to Rechlin to be operated by the secret German Unit Kampfgeschwader 200 (KG200).

An eyewitness on the ground, J.M. Larsen, observed Punchboard as she
overflew Denmark before landing at Vaerlose:

"On that day in April 1944 I was standing on the first floor of my parents'
house at Holte. I heard a noise from the engine of a heavy aircraft,
looked out of an open skylight and shouted to my father, 'Flying Fortress!'
- one could not be mistaken by its profile. The Flying Fortress was
between Vejlesa and Fureso (lakes) on a northerly heading. It then
turned to a westerly heading and it reappeared in the direction of
Vaerloese.
Then I heard engine noise from a German fighter and a salvo was fired,
presumably 20 mm, subsequently I didn't see the aircraft airborne again.
I borrowed a bicycle and drove towards Vaerloese. When I got over
the hill at the 'soldier's path' near Soendersoe (lake) I suddenly entered
a taxiway newly made by the Germans and followed it almost to Bringe but
couldn't see any big aircraft on the field.
I drove back and passed two farmhouses on my right and on my left I
had the big yellow building which at that time served as depot for
equipment. Just west of this building there was inside of the fence a
steep slope towards the grass field itself - and here a B-17 was parked
with its tail towards the fence and its nose towards the field.
Apparently the aircraft was unharmed apart from a missing hatch on top of
the body about amidships and from a flat port main wheel.
I recorded the letters of identification and serial number of the aircraft
on the back of a matchbox which I unfortunately later lost.
At the time I was a little involved in the underground activities and it
was my intention that a report on the landing via the illegal mail service
should have reached the American Embassy in Stockholm but this I didn't
manage to get done as I on another occasion was arrested by Gestapo on the
10th of May and kept interned until the 5th of May 1945."

Lt. Racener, the pilot of Punchboard, gave this statement about the
events of April 9. The origin and date of this description is unknown
to me, but this is a direct translation provided to me by Sune W. Nielsen,
a Danish writer, and edited by me for presentation here. Presumably,
Lt. Racener gave this statement in English, and it was translated to Danish
and now again back to English.

"We were hit in the No. 2 engine and we were losing fuel at an alarming speed.
The navigator reported that if we continued losing fuel at this speed, we
could only just reach Sweden. I asked for a course and we calmly left our
formation and flew northwards. All ammunition and machine guns were thrown
overboard, while we flew low over the sea. At last we reached land. At that
time none of us knew the colors of the Swedish flag, but from the flagstaffs
we saw a red flag with a white cross. Denmark was occupied and therefore
probably was not allowed to use their own flag, we agreed that this had to be
Sweden. After 10 or 15 minutes of flying we saw a lovely open field which was
very suitable for landing. I was circling around the field to check it for
ditches and fences, and when I was halfway across the field I suddenly
discovered camouflaged planes with the Swastika on the rudder. I pulled the plane
up and tried to turn away, but just then one of the gunners reported a ME-210,
which was on our tail and the light flak became awake and fired warning shots.
Without machine guns and ammunition we did not have a chance and I returned to
the runway. From this day and after 13 months in a German POW camp I can assure
that there were ten Americans that learned to know the difference between the
Danish and the Swedish flag."

According to Thomas and Ketley in KG200: The Luftwaffe's Most Secret
Unit, a member of the Danish Resistance, following the same path as
described above, took a picture of Punchboard among the trees before she was moved
from the airfield perimeter. The picture can be seen on the "Photos
of Punchboard" page on this site.

The details of the airplane after it left Vaerlose remain sketchy at best. Punchboard was one of the only B-17Gs captured intact and flown by the Luftwaffe
during
the war. In fact, it is believed to have been the last B-17 captured
intact during the war.

Several sources indicate that the bomber was re-numbered by the
Luftwaffe as A3+BB. It was also repainted for night use: black
underbelly and grey mottled camouflage on top. It is also reported
that a picture of a boy on a goose was painted on the nose of the ship,
presumably taken from a Swedish children's story.

If it is the case that the above description is the correct one, the
following photographs are of Punchboard in her new markings.
Note the absence of the ball turret in the photos. The ball turret
was intact at the time of Punchboard's landing in Vaerlose, so it is
assumed that it was later removed by the German captors. Note also
that there are no traces of her former AAF markings, making it difficult to
confirm that this is, without a doubt, Punchboard. However, if
it is the case that she was the only B-17G captured intact and flown by the
KG200, then it is a reasonable assumption that the photos below are indeed
Punchboard. These photos were taken at Hildesheim in 1945.
The two Germans officers are Oberfeldwebel Rauchfuss and his radio-operator
Feldwebel Monkemeyer.

Several stories exist of the bomber's ultimate demise, and although it is
the current focus of my research, there may not be sufficient information
available to resolve the questions and ambiguity.

One report is
that the airplane crashed on takeoff from Stuttgart on February 9, 1945
carrying French Vichy agents in an attempt to escape to Spain. Another theory
is that the airplane was lost to German flak on April 6, 1945. The
airplane was attempting to evade advancing Allied armies, and there was no
method of alerting the German anti-aircraft batteries that the B-17 was a
captured ship rather than an enemy invader. The airplane took fire and was destroyed.